Medvedev to sum up results of outgoing year live on TV.

.

MOSCOW, December 24 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
will appear live on television on Friday to sum up the results of the
outgoing year, presidential spokeswoman Natalia Timakova reported.
The Year Results with the Russian President program will be broadcast
as an interview, Timakova said and added that it will be Medvedev's third
TV appearance of this kind. In all, he spoke to TV journalists about ten
times. Early in 2009, he proposed to make a series of TV broadcasts
entitled Conversation with Dmitry Medvedev that were televised delayed.
On Friday, among participants will be the heads of TV Channel One,
Rossiya One and NTV, Konstantin Ernst, Oleg Dobrodeyev and Vladimir
Kulistikov, respectively. The program will not be very long, it will take
about one hour and fifteen minutes, like in 2009, Timakova noted.
"The president obviously has all information needed for such a
conversation, he remembers most of the data, although he read up for the
program the day before," she said.
Unlike the previous year, when the country was striving to get over
the economic crisis, this year's interview will not be so much focused on
economic problems, the presidential spokeswoman noted. This year, the
interview will cover a wider range of subjects, such as social and
political issues.
The program will be aired at noon Moscow time on TV Channel One,
Rossiya One and NTV channels.

.Medvedev, Obama highly appreciate bilateral cooperation in 2010.

MOSCOW, December 24 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
spoke over the phone with his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama late on
Thursday, the Kremlin press service reported.
The conversation focused on the U.S. Congress' ratification of the new
Russian-U.S. START treaty. The presidents agreed that this ratification
had made it possible to secure joint efforts geared towards building
mutually respectful and constructive partnership between Russia and the
United States.
The two heads of state highly appreciated the results of the
Russian-U.S. cooperation during the outgoing year. Both presidents
reiterated their commitment to further development of cooperation.
They also discussed a number of pressing international problems and
agreed to continue regular contacts.
Concluding the conversation, Medvedev and Obama exchange seasonal
greetings.

.RF parliament's upper house might consider START ratification on Fri.

MOSCOW, December 24 (Itar-Tass) -- The Council of Federation, or the
upper house of the Russian parliament, on Friday holds its last session in
the outgoing year. The session's agenda features 60 issues, and might be
supplemented with one more issue, that of the ratification of a
Russian-U.S. nuclear pact.
Topping the agenda will be documents on the setting up of the Russian
Investigation Committee. The basic law is geared to separate the duties of
prosecutor's supervision and pre-trial investigation. The subject was in
the focus of attention not only among lawyers, but also among general
public. The house's sectoral committees have proclaimed their support to
the laws.
Second on the agenda, there will be the issue of the ratification on a
number of international agreements, including an agreement with Japan on
the peaceful use of nuclear energy, an agreement with Mongolia on setting
up a joint venture to develop a uranium deposit. Members of the upper
house will also discuss Russian's agreements with Switzerland on the
simplification of visa procedures and with France on the provision of
temporary jobs for citizens of one state on the territory of the other.
The Council of Federation will also discuss a package of social laws,
including laws on protecting children from information that might harm
their health and development, on the use of maternity capital to buy
housing, on boarding schools for under age children, and a law banning
sales of alcoholic drinks to the under aged.
Another bill to be considered by the upper house toughens requirements
to the use of pneumatic guns. Other laws and amendments to Russian codes
change measures of restraint for certain categories of suspects or those
accused, improve the activities of pre-trial investigation agencies,
toughen punitive measures for foreigners who commit drug-related crimes.
The upper house will also consider a law banning the use of the word
"president" in respect of heads of Russian regions.
It is planned that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will sum up
the results of Russia's chairmanship in the CIS in 2010.
-0-ras


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